Prior to Word War II, the vast majority of swimming pools were public pools or private group owned facilities. Since that time, and mostly in the past thirty years, residential swimming pools have become increasingly popular so that the number of swimming pools in the United States has grown dramatically. Swimming pools were formerly made with forms and poured concrete but formless costruction, wherein the concrete is sprayed in place over a pre-assembled matrix of reinforcing bar, has reduced both the cost and construction time. Where once, virtually every pool had required a custom made circulation and filtration system, packaged units became available in a range of sizes, so as to allow additional savings. These economies, together with price competition among the installers, served to accelerate growth of the swimming pool industry. Inasmuch as the need for routine maintenance tends to discourage prospective pool buyers, maturation of the industry has been marked by the advent of labor saving devices such as automatic surface skimmers and self operating pool vacuums.
Maturation of the industry is accompanied by more intense competition among the pool installers. In a typical scenario, a pool installation company will install the plumbing and pool equipment themselves, but subcontract the specialized construction phases, excavation, re-bar placing and tying, concrete spraying, tile work, plastering and decking to subcontractors. Construction methods are virtually standardized in the industry and often, the same sub-contractors will work for several pool installation companies. As a result, the cost basis for similar products of similar quality is much the same to all installers and each of them is driven to control internal operating costs and shave profit margins in order to remain competitive. Thus, the installation of plumbing and pool equipment, sub-contractor supervision and quality control are the factors which management can control. Since sub-contractor supervision is purely a management skill, to which all have equal access, the labor of plumbing and pool equipment installation and the efficacy of quality control are the only areas where a competitive advantage may be achieved. Therefore, there is a continuing need for refining and improving these operations.
Skimmer, pool drain and other plumbing receptacles are open and difficult to protect from the entry of dirt, concrete and other debris during pool construction and water circulation system testing. The conventional practice of stuffing these receptacles with an empty sack does not resolve the debris problem. As a final step after construction and testing, the receptacles must be laboriously cleaned out by hand. Particularly at this time, there is a real risk of gravel, mortar, concrete or stones falling into the plumbing. Swimming pool pumps have a limited tolerance for ingesting such solids, and impeller damage or worse might result. An unfortunately sized rock might block a line at the first elbow it couldn't pass for an even worse and more expensive scenario.
Therefore, the first object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for the installation of plumbing and pool equipment so as to produce a more reliable work product by eliminating the potential for debris in the circulation system so that less labor and expense is incurred for correcting deficiencies in the completed pool installation. A second object is that this improved installation method and apparatus also reduce the total amount of labor required on the part of the pool installing company.